A New Beginning
by htmLord
Summary: Rated PG-13 for action sequences, mainly. Its all about a simple difference, made at the beginning of GT, that changes a lot.. from an old favorite...
1. Prologue

A New Beginning  
by htmLord  
  
Okay, folks, I'm back! Its been a long, long time since I've written, but here I am, with a new fic for you to enjoy. No, I'm not planning on doing any work on any other stories, I've had a combination of writer's block and lack of interest for about 9 months. Hopefully, this fic will help clear that up.  
  
In any event, I should explain this story. Technically, its A/U, though only be the slimmest of margins.. the only difference is one sentence.. just ten words.. and all of the differences that spawn from it. The story begins 20 years after the fight with Buu, right at the beginning of GT, and its really just one huge "What if..?" I hope you enjoy, cause here it is!  
  
Prologue  
  
Goku strolled out of the entrance to the lookout and patted his stomach. "Mmm! That was good, Mr Popo!"  
  
"Thank you, Goku," came the reply.  
  
"And thanks for letting Ubuu and I have our fight here, Dende.. it was really fun!"  
  
"It wasn't a problem," the Guardian of Earth responded, "besides, the Earth couldn't have handled it."  
  
Goku nodded in agreement and started to walk off, his thoughts wandering. "That was intense! And think.. that was Ubuu.. I wonder how powerful Vegeta has become.. that would be a great fight, too.. or Gohan.. just think if he hadn't quit training after defeating Cell.. he would be an amazing sparring partner.."  
  
Lost in thought, Goku didn't notice the sky had went black, nor did he notice that a massive Black Star Dragonball dragon hover above him. In a typical Goku manner, he merely voiced his thoughts. "Geez.. I wish Gohan wouldn't have stopped training after beating Cell.."  
  
The part that followed was what startled him. "It is done.." a deep voice rang out followed by a much more high pitched "NO! That wasn't my wish!" Goku turned upward to see the huge dragon above him before it split into the dragonballs and raced off to the far corners of the universe. Then, a frustrated little green man came running around the corner to see who had stolen his wish.  
  
"G..Goku?" he said, scared nearly white. "W..what are you doing here?"  
  
"Pilaf? Is that you?" Goku looked at the little man discerningly. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I'm.. uh.. I'm.. just leaving!" he said in a high, scared voice as he ran back around the corner, attempting to flee.  
  
Goku merely shrugged, not knowing what was going on, then turned and flew off for home.  
  
-------------------  
  
The Son Household, moments before  
  
Gohan sat at the table, reading a book entitled "Geothermic Theory and its Practical Applications". Deeply absorbed in his reading, he barely noticed the pretty, dark haired woman standing beside him until she spoke. "Gohan, dear.. what would you like for dinner?" Videl asked her bookish husband.  
  
Gohan turned to her, caught off-guard for a moment. "Well.. uh.. er.. how 'bout we go over to Mom's for dinner? You know she'd love to have us..." Gohan relaxed, having used his favorite response to evade that question. The truth was, Gohan was almost as bad at deciding WHAT he wanted to eat as Videl was good at making it.  
  
Videl gave Gohan a little smirk that said "Not that line again.." but that she thought his response was still cute.. even though he'd used it more times than he had done push-ups.. She gave him a peck on the cheek and was just about to turn for the phone to call Chi Chi when she heard him say something.  
  
"Yes, dear?" she said, turning. What she saw was definitely not usual..  
  
Gohan was glowing a faint gold color, somewhat like the color of a Super Saiyan, but a bit less vibrant.. not only that, but we looked to be in shock.. or maybe even in pain... "GOHAN!" she yelled as she ran toward him.  
  
Gohan, however, couldn't hear his beloved wife. At first, he had felt the crackle of power rush through him.. and then, nothing. For a moment, he thought, somehow, something had just killed him and he might be dead.. and then, he heard, faintly, his father's voice.. "I wish Gohan wouldn't have stopped training after beating Cell.." he could barely make out.. and then.. POP  
  
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Meaningless Trivia of the Day  
  
Only 6 characters never die in the DBZ series.. 5 are Kai's. Can you name the sixth? 


	2. Chapter One : The Past

A New Beginning  
by htmLord  
  
Chapter 1  
  
A 13 year old Gohan stood near the river, lost in concentration. He had been this way for nearly an hour, focusing his mind and his energy for the training session to come. Finally, his eyes snapped open and he began powering up. He brought his energy to its peak without transforming into a Super Saiyan, and then he began to train. A series of punches here, a flurry of kicks there, each one backed with enough force to level a mountain.. this was how Gohan practiced his form and trained his energy.  
  
Breaking from the routine, Gohan shot into the air and came down, hard, on a boulder beside him. It shattered with almost no effort from Gohan, who immediately resumed his regimen of punchs and kicks, increasing the energy behind each strike as he went.   
  
To anyone else, his practice regimen would be nearly impossible. Even Vegeta couldn't keep up for more than an hour or so. In only a year since the fight with Cell, Gohan had been somehow driven to train himself to his utmost. He had broken every boundary he had known, and yet he continued to train.  
  
And train he did. 12 to 16 hours a day he trained, to the exclusion of all else. He skipped out on homework, much to Chi Chi's chagrin, and he even skipped out on the occasional meal, much to Chi Chi's horror. But the effects were impressive to say the least. Even in his normal form, Gohan knew he had as much power as he had had when he defeated Cell, and as a Super Saiyan.. he was undoubtedly the most powerful being in the universe.  
  
However, all this training had a downside. Chi Chi's dream of her son becoming a scholar was rapidly vanishing, nearly as fast as the boulders near the river where Gohan trained. He hadn't studied in over a year, yet his mind was still as keen as ever. Occasionally, Gohan's mind wandered to his studies, but then he forced it back on to the task at hand : training. He had been driven by some inexplicable force to push himself as hard as possible, and then harder still. And he had.  
  
At that moment, as Gohan was firing off his 98th Kamehameha into space, he sensed a familiar energy coming toward him. He broke from the Kamehameha stance and looked into the sky, trying to see the source of the energy on its way to him.  
  
"Piccolo?" The energy was definitely his, but it was far away. "What are you doing out here?" Gohan's question was answered quite rapidly when his keen eyes made out Piccolo's form on the horizon, headed straight for him.  
  
Within moments, the Namek landed before Gohan. "Gohan," Piccolo said, in his normal, brusque manner, "Its good to see you."  
  
"Its good to see you, Piccolo.. as always."  
  
"Gohan.. I have a question for you..." Piccolo said, a hint of curiousity creeping into his voice. "Why are you training so hard? Do you know something the rest of us don't? The Earth is safe, and yet you train.. why, Gohan? Why..?"  
  
Gohan turned away from Piccolo momentarily, as if in thought. "I don't know, Piccolo," he finally said. "I've just been.. driven.. I think, it may be because of my Dad.."  
  
"Gohan, if its because you believe its your fault he died-" Piccolo started, but Gohan cut him off.  
  
"No, Piccolo.. I know that it had to happen that way.. if I would have destroyed him immediately, who's to say he wouldn't have returned, later, but much more powerful? For all any of us know.. it happened the best way it could have. My Father even told me so." Gohan looked nearly resolute as he said that final sentence, but Piccolo wasn't sure it all added up.  
  
"Gohan.. I've known you for nearly 10 years.. and I can sense that you aren't being entirely truthful with me."  
  
"Piccolo.. I.." Gohan looked nearly about to break when he spun around, away from Piccolo. "I don't know, all right? Just.. leave me be, Piccolo." With that, Gohan leapt off into the air and flew for home.  
  
------------------------------------------  
  
Meaningless Trivia  
  
The answer to last chapter's Meaningless Trivia is : Hercule aka Mr Satan. Every other character (except East, West, South, Grand, and the Supreme Kai) dies at some point and time in DBZ.  
  
More Meaningless Trivia  
  
Did you know that if you or I could transform into even the first level of a Super Saiyan, without any other powers save those we have right now, we could lift more than 5 times our normal lifting capacity? That means most of us could lift roughly half a ton! 


	3. Chapter Two : High School?!

A New Beginning  
by htmLord  
  
Chapter 2  
  
4 Years Later  
  
Gohan sat at the dinner table, (im)patiently waiting for his mother to serve the evening meal. He stared at his plate, thinking about.. things.  
  
"I've got something to talk to you about, young man," Chi Chi had said that morning... "So don't you dare miss dinner!" She had given that final order with the kind of fierceness that she had so often had to resort to with his father, and even, at times, with him, in days past.  
  
"But that was the past, when he had been young and his mother had been over protective.. what was she doing now?" Gohan thought, still lost in thought as his mother and brother started to eat.  
  
The sound of food being eaten, however, was more than enough to rouse Gohan from his stupor. With the appetite of a typical Saiyan, Gohan attacked the mound of food his mother had prepared. "Wow, Mom.. this is great!" he said, his mouth half full.  
  
"Gohan!" Chi Chi snapped. "How many times do I have to tell you? Don't talk with your mouth full!"  
  
"Sorry.." Gohan hung his head, slowing down his food consumption.   
  
It only lasted for a moment. Within seconds, Gohan's look of shame dissolved and his appetite reasserted itself. A few metric tons of food later (just kidding), Gohan sat back in his chair and issued a satisfied sigh. "That was great, Mom.." he said, standing and pushing in his chair. "I'm gonna head out and-"  
  
"Oh, no you're not, Mister! We have something to talk about."  
  
"Oh, yeah.. that's right.." Gohan replied, crestfallen that his evasion hadn't worked.  
  
"Gohan," Chi Chi began, "I'm worried about you. You do nothing but train.. what about your studies? And don't you want to have any friends? Is fighting so important to you that you would sacrifice all else for it?"  
  
"Well.. Mom.. you see.." But Gohan had no defense against his mother.. not even his driving desire to train ever harder.  
  
"I've enrolled you in a public school," she said, much to Gohan's surprise. "Its a ways away, but you can make the trip in no time." Before Gohan could react, she continued. "And there won't be any skipping out so you can train. Period. You need to study, Gohan... not just goof off in the woods or by the river, training. I've let you off long enough.. now its time for you to go to school."  
  
Gohan finally was able to put together a sentence. "What.. made you decide to do that, Mom?"  
  
"Bulma and I were talking about it.. you are much to intelligent to spend your entire life training, Gohan.. whatever happened to your desire to be a scholar?"  
  
Gohan, a bit flustered, tried to respond, but couldn't seem to form the words. "Fine, then," Chi Chi said. "School starts in August. You have two more months of your precious training, and then you better start hitting the books, you got that young man?"  
  
Gohan, still unable to stand up to his mother, even on this, merely nodded. "Good. Oh, and you'll have to take a placement test in two weeks. We're going to this school tomorrow to take it, so you'd better look over your books." With that, Chi Chi nodded toward a closet that held Gohan's scholastic texts, books that hadn't seen the light of day in at least 6 months.  
  
"Mom.." Gohan started to protest weakly, but Chi Chi immediately cut him off.  
  
"No 'buts' young man.. you are going to school, and that's final!" The way she said it was final, too. Gohan knew there would be no more discussion on it from the look in his mother's eyes, so he gave up.  
  
"Great.. now I have to go to school.. there goes my training regimen.." he thought.  
  
"What are you waiting for, Gohan? Go study!" With that, his mother shooed him away from the dinner table and toward his books. Gohan sighed and opened the closet, only to be buried in an avalanche of almost forgotten books. Under the pile of books, he let out a sigh of exasperation, then got to work taking them to his room to be read.  
  
----------------------------  
  
Short chapter, but I'm trying to make em quickly readable.. hopefully one more post tonight. Oh, and as to those who disagreed with me on which characters don't die, I was sort of wrong. The dog, Bee, never dies either. However, Dende dies on Namek during the Freeza saga, and Gohan, Goten, and Trunks die toward the end of the Buu saga, when the Earth is destroyed. With that out of the way, on to the next piece of DragonBall trivia:  
  
Q: Who is the last principal character from the original DragonBall series to die for the first time? That is, who, of the main DB characters, is the last to ever die, chronologically? 


	4. Chapter Three : The Entrance Exam

A New Beginning  
by htmLord  
  
Chapter 3  
  
The Next Morning  
  
Gohan rolled over in his bed, sleeplessly. "Why do I have to go to school?" he thought. "Its not like I haven't.. wait.. no, I haven't studied at all since.. wow.. since before we fought the androids, I think.. it has been a long time, hasn't it?"  
  
He rolled over again, this time to face out of his window. He stared out at the countryside, his mind drifting to training. "Well.. its still early.. I could go out for a bit before-"  
  
"GOHAN! Time to get up!" Gohan sighed and rolled to a sitting position at the edge of the bed.  
  
"I can always train later on tonight.. and I'll make up for the lost time tomorrow.." Gohan stood up and made his way downstairs, without his usual energy.  
  
"And what's wrong with you, mister?" Chi Chi asked her less than enthusiastic son. Gohan merely shrugged and sat down at the table for breakfast, as if resigned to his fate. Chi Chi let it go and brought out breakfast, which Goten promptly attacked. Gohan, however, was eating MUCH slower than normal.. in fact, Chi Chi was eating faster than he was.  
  
"Okay, spill it, Gohan.. why are you so depressed? Is going to school THAT bad?"  
  
"No.."  
  
"I didn't think so. You need to study, Gohan.. if you want to get a good job when you graduate, you have to do well in your studies.. and that's why I'm sending you to school. If that's what it takes to get you to put some effort into studying, then that's what I'll do, you got that?"  
  
"Yes, mother.." Gohan murmured in reply.  
  
"Now, Gohan," Chi Chi continued, disregarding his lack of enthusiasm, "you should be careful not to show off your powers in front of other people.. you'd get picked on by your future classmates, and you don't need to despise going to high school any more than you already do. You want to do everything you can to fit in, you got that?"  
  
Gohan, reacting as any teen would during a lecture, nodded. Chi Chi continued to go on about how important this all was to Gohan's future, but he wasn't really listening. His thoughts were out by the river, going over his training routines, looking for ways to improve his strengths and skills, remembering the previous day's routine.  
  
His thoughts must have wandered a bit too far. "GOHAN!" Chi Chi slammed her fist down on the table. "Are you listening to me?!"  
  
Gohan scurried to defend himself. "Yes, Mom.. every word!"  
  
"Then why did you have your eyes closed?"  
  
"I was thinking.."  
  
"And why did you start mouthing 'kame'?!"  
  
"I..er.. well.. um.." Just then, luck was kind to Gohan. A crash from the kitchen indicated that Goten was still hungry, and had tried to fix himself a snack. Chi Chi scowled and ran off to the kitchen, leaving Gohan to wipe his brow and thank goodness for his little brother. He'd have to remember to thank Goten for that one.  
  
---------------------------------  
  
A little later, outside Orange Star High School  
  
"Well," Chi Chi said, "that was quite a trip.." Gohan nodded and stretched, having enjoyed the short 500 mile trip.  
  
"Nothing beats a good flight, Mom," Gohan said, much more chipper after having had a chance to stretch and exert himself, even if only for a moment. They had landed a ways off, behind a nearby building, then walked to the school.  
  
As they walked up to the school building, an older gentleman with graying hair came out to meet them. "Mrs. Chi Chi Son, I presume?"  
  
Chi Chi stepped forward and shook his hand. "Yes, and this is my son, Gohan."  
  
"Hello, there, m'boy," he said, shaking Gohan's hand. Gohan kept his grip very loose, worried he might hurt the man's hand if he actually shook it. "Pleased to meet you. I'll be your Principal here at Orange Star High. Come on in, we'll get you done with your placement testing in no time at all."  
  
With that, he led them into the school and into a small, empty classroom. "Here we are, Gohan.. your test is on the desk.. good luck, and your mother and I will be waiting in the office across the hall.  
  
"Thank you, sir." With that, Gohan sat down and started to work on his entrance exam.  
  
Gohan stared blankly at the sheet of paper before him, not remembering any of the material presented before him. Within moments after his mother had left, he began to sweat. He was unaccustomed to not knowing the answers, and it started to wear on him in mere moments.  
  
Suddenly, though, as if it had all suddenly come into focus, Gohan remembered. Not everything, but he remembered the tutors and the books of his childhood. It all started to come together and, fearing he might lose it again, Gohan quickly began putting thoughts (and answers to paper). So quickly, in fact, that once or twice, he had to consciously slow down his hand to keep his pencil from smoking.  
  
Across the hall, Chi Chi and the principal waited for Gohan in a mostly empty room. "So, Mrs. Son.." the principal asked as he flipped through a manila file with Gohan's information on it, noting things that seemed important, "it says here that Gohan has never attended school before. Why is that?"  
  
"Well, we live out in the country, in the 489 Mountain District, and there aren't any schools nearby."  
  
"Wow.. that's quite some drive to get here.. you must have had to leave last night.."  
  
Chi Chi, not noticing the significance of what she was about to say, replied truthfully. "No, we only left this morning."  
  
The principal seemed stunned at the remark at first, then asked the most logical question he could think of. "So, I take it you flew in?"  
  
Chi Chi nodded, and before the principal could catch on to the true meaning of what just transpired, there was a knock at the door.  
  
"Come in."  
  
Gohan stepped through the door, and the principal looked at him quizically. "Is there something wrong, Gohan? Did you need help with something?"  
  
Gohan just flashed a smile at the principal and his mother. "No, sir. I've finished the test."  
  
"You.. what?! Its only been.." he looked down at his watch, then back up to Gohan, "15 minutes!"  
  
"Yes, sir.. I know. Here you are." With that, Gohan handed him the test packet and sat down next to his mother. The principal, wide mouthed, retook his seat and started flipping through the papers, assuming that most of the answers would be blind guesses. As his eyes grew wider and wider, Gohan smiled to himself, full of pride.  
  
Finally, the principal looked up at Gohan. "Well, son.. either you are that good.. or you're the luckiest student I've ever had.. not only did you do the test in 15 minutes.. you scored a 98%.."  
  
Gohan's face fell. "You mean.. I missed one?" Chi Chi and the principal sweatdropped at that remark.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Thanks to those of you who tried to guess, and I have to say, there was one winner! Not that you win anything, but to Ben and ~*Crystal Lily*~, you are correct, the answer is Bulma. Or, at least I thought it was. Quoted from Zero : "About the trivia: Does that Fortune Teller Baba person ever die? I mean, whenever the Earth is in trouble she just goes overe to Otherworld and waits it out. And she wasn't on Earth during the Buu saga, was she? (Did she go back after dropping Goku off? I doubt it)" I never thought about Baba, since everyone on earth was dead except those at the lookout, and Bulma died after Chi Chi (the only other original DragonBall character who hadn't died). As to the other guesses :  
  
Gohan was born between DragonBall and DBZ, hence he isn't an original DB character. The same goes for Bra, who isn't born until the last handful of DBZ episodes. Chi Chi was killed for the first time when Buu turned her into an egg and crushed her, and Bulma died a bit later when Buu turned her into chocolate and ate her. Piccolo dies in DBZ at Nappa's hands, while defending Gohan. Krillin and Master Roshi both die in DB. Tien, Chiatzhu, and Yamcha die fighting either on Namek or versus the Saiyans. The Ox King dies on the lookout to Buu as well, though he dies sooner than Bulma. Mr Popo also dies on the lookout. Everyone else dies when or before Buu uses his "Human Extinction Attack", all except for Baba. However, her ability to travel to the OtherWorld might be evidence that she is already dead, since we know she is family of Master Roshi. Since that remains to be proven, the answer is Baba. Good work, Zero.. you know your DB/Z/GT even better than me.  
  
New Trivia Question:  
  
Which DBZ fighter dies the MOST times, and how many times does he/she die? Absorbed doesn't count as dead, btw. Check back next time for the answer! 


	5. Chapter Four : The First Day, Part One

A New Beginning  
by htmLord  
  
-A/N Sorry bout the time it took to write this chapter. I had it about half written when power went out and I lost it all.. *sigh* Between that and the vacation I just got back from, I haven't had time to put any work in to this.. hopefully, it was worth the wait, though!  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Gohan lay alone, under one of his favorite trees, deep in thought. "You know.. maybe this school thing won't be so bad.. I mean.. I did really well on that test, I guess. Maybe it'll all be that easy.."  
  
Gohan didn't know how wrong he was.  
  
A few days later, Gohan flew over the treetops, speeding toward Satan City and Orange Star High School. His mind was a jumble of thoughts, from the advice his mother had imparted him with before he had left to his little brother's juvenile antics that had spilled juice on his books and caused him to be late.  
  
"Man.. how is it that everything seems to go wrong.. Mom says to not show off my powers.. but I'm so far behind, how am I supposed to get there in time without really pushing it?" he thought to himself as he pushed his energy higher, bringing his speed up farther still. "I can make it.. if I hurry.."  
  
Just then, Gohan crested the final hill before Satan City and began searching for a somewhat secluded spot to land. "There!" he thought, seeing an empty alleyway only a few blocks from the school.  
  
Gohan touched down in the alley, then surveyed the scene to make sure no one had seen him. After a moment, he let his guard down a bit. He was alone. With that realization, he hurried off toward the school, walking quite quickly, but trying to keep his speed down into the normal range. However, when he saw an elderly couple staring at him, he realized he was still going just a bit too fast, so he slowed down even further.  
  
"Man.. I'm just about getting nowhere, fast.. this 'disguising my power' thing isn't nearly as easy as I thought..." His thoughts trailed off as his acute Saiyan hearing picked out a strange popping sound up ahead, rapid and growing louder and louder as he approached.   
  
Just as Gohan turned the corner, he found out what the noise was. Gunfire. A group of crooks were parked in front of the bank, two of them firing machine guns into the assembled police, who were ducking behind their cars.  
  
Gohan shook his head at them, then looked down at his watch. "I don't have time for this.. but.. I can't just let them get away with this.. I better help." With that, Gohan sat down his books and looked around him. "Good," he thought, "no one is looking at me.." In an instant, Gohan had powered up to Super Saiyan, hoping the golden hair would make for a good enough disguise. This close to the school, his classmates would be bound to find out about his powers otherwise.  
  
Gohan watched the crooks for a moment, trying to decide on his actions. "The best way to not be caught is to not be seen.." he thought, and began to act on that. He powered up a bit, charging a good amount of power into speeding himself up. Moments later, he took one last quick glance at the wouldbe felons and sprang in to action.  
  
It all happened so fast, the crooks never knew what hit them. One second, they were shooting at the cops, the next, their guns were on the ground and they were all tied together. It was as if a ghost had done it, they would later tell the news crews. But for now, they were merely tied up and unarmed as the police advanced on them.  
  
From the top of the nearest building, Gohan watched them get rounded up. He nodded to himself, as if to say 'Good job, Gohan,' but then he noticed something. An older man was staring up at the Super Saiyan perched atop a building. Gohan leapt back from the edge, so that he could no longer be seen.  
  
"Did.. that guy see me up here? Did he see me down there, too?" Gohan was worried. He had come up with a pretty good plan to keep his identity safe, and it hadn't worked. He sighed to himself, the crept back to the edge. The old man was rubbing his eyes, not sure if what he had seen was real or not.. but he was also relating the story of a blur that disarmed the crooks then flew up to the top of a building, revealing itself as a blonde haired, teen boy. He was telling this story to a girl about Gohan's age, with stunning blue eyes and long dark hair.  
  
Gohan couldn't help but stare at her for a moment, but then he recalled the time. "Ack! Its almost time for school to start!" he said to himself, under his breath. Hurriedly, he rushed toward the school, hoping the police scene would keep the attention of any who might see him otherwise.  
  
This time, he was safe. A few minutes later, he was waiting in the principal's office, waiting to be introduced to his class, and no one was the wiser about his extra-curricular exploits.  
  
He wiped his brow, which had collected a bit of sweat. He tried to tell himself he wasn't nervous, and that it was just from busting those crooks. Deep down, though, he knew that that wasn't enough to make him sweat, and that he must be nervous. He tried to shake it off.  
  
"Calm down, Gohan.. its gonna be fine.." he thought to himself.  
  
"Ready, m' boy?" the principal asked, walking into the room.  
  
Gohan shot to his feet. "Yes, sir."  
  
The principal nodded, murmuring something about polite young country men, then led Gohan to his class. "Professor," the principal said, entering the classroom with Gohan right behind him, "I have your new student here."  
  
The professor, a well dressed gentleman with graying hair and an emerging bald spot, stepped from behind his lectern and approached Gohan. "Hello, son.. you must be Gohan.. Gohan Son, correct?"  
  
Gohan nodded, then, to his own amazement, shyly replied "Yes, sir."  
  
Gohan couldn't get over how overwhelmed he felt by all these people. For the first time in his life, he felt.. shy. He wasn't even really listening as the professor told the class a few things about him, and he only barely noticed when the professor told him to go ahead and take a seat.  
  
Gohan started looking for an empty seat, somewhat in a daze, when a blonde girl stood up. "Hey, Gohan! There's one right here," she called, pointing to a seat beside her.  
  
"Oh, thanks.." Gohan said, and walked up to the seat, already feeling a little more at ease for some reason. Then, he noticed her. The girl from the bank.. the one the old guy had been telling about him.. "Oh, no!" he thought, "She's gonna find me out for sure, now!"  
  
Gohan took a breath and finished taking his seat, trying to prepare himself for the onslaught he knew was coming. The blonde, doing her best not to disappoint, started talking to him in earnest.  
  
"Hi, my name is Erasa, with an E," she said.  
  
"I'm Gohan," Gohan managed.  
  
"Pleased to meet you.. oh, and this is Videl," she said, pointing at the girl from the bank. Gohan swallowed, meeting her hard and determined gaze. But then, suddenly, her look softened.  
  
"Hi, Gohan.. good to meet you," Videl said, no longer seeming to stare through him with her piercing blue eyes. Gohan smiled at her and was about to say something when Erasa butted in.  
  
"That's Sharpener," she said, indicating the blonde guy beside Videl, "he's.." She was about to continue when a much more mature voice cut in.  
  
"Ms Erasa! Would you PLEASE not speak in my class? I'm trying to teach history, here!" With that stern admonition, Erasa shut her mouth for the duration of the class.  
  
Everyone's minds weren't as silent as their mouths, however. Gohan couldn't quit thinking about this entire school thing. "I hope I can survive like this for.. 9 months.. its gonna be a long year, Gohan.. and this will take some doing.."  
  
Beside him, Erasa kept thinking about how handsome and dreamy the boy beside her looked. Especially his dark eyes.. she had never seen such dark eyes.. she felt she could be absorbed by them..  
  
And Videl.. she was thinking about what she had heard that morning, about a blur that became a blonde boy.. and how Gohan had eerily similar clothing to those described to her by Detective Loomis. But he was blonde.. and Gohan had dark hair.. but then again, the Cell Games.. Videl's mind ran in circles most of the rest of the morning, trying in vain to figure everything out, not knowing how close she was to the truth.  
  
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Okay, sorry bout that taking a while, I was on vacation for a few days, then I've had a lot on my plate lately.. but I should have another chapter up sooner.. I really hope, at least. Okay, enough of me making excuses.. on to trivia!  
  
The Answer to last chapter's trivia is.. Krillin! Krillin dies a grand total of 5 times, not counting alternate timelines. Krillin dies to a crony of Piccolo in DB, he dies at the hands of Frieza, he dies fighting Buu, he's killed by Super 17 in DBGT, and he dies of old age before the very end of the last episode of GT. For reference, Vegeta dies 2 times, to Buu and to old age, and Goku dies 2 or 3 times, during the fight with Radditz, I'm not sure if you can count versus Frieza (the lava issue), and to Cell. He never dies in GT.. not once. Not fighting the evil Shenlong, not even of old age.. he just goes with Shenlong.. *shrugs* Oh, well.  
  
In any event, props to those of you who got last chapter's trivia right! But enough of that.. on to new trivia.  
  
Okay, simple question, and pretty easy if you watch the new tapes. Where does Gohan's Mystic form fit into the Super Saiyan scheme of things? That is, would a SSJ3 Gohan be stronger than Mystic Gohan? What about SSJ 4? This one doesn't really have a definitive answer, its a bit more theoretic, so you're all right if you guess.. please back up what you say, though.. and we'll go into it in the next chapter's trivia section! 


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